On Top Of The World

Celebrating the cool weather with this breathtaking photo of the Subaru WRC car.

This Is Foreshadowing

I can't make it any clearer than that.

Wings Are For Airplanes

Three weeks of rain into grey sky left overs.

Mannslayer: Build Update

Did my favorite Subaru coupe get a diffuser? Why yes, I think it did.

Petit Le Mans: Road Atlanta

After following the race over the weekend, I was really pleased to find Linhbergh had made it out to shoot the BMW team and some open race footage. Audi pulled through with another win over Peugeot thanks to the weather which would also lead to an unfortunate early close for the race. While I'm still on the fence about current BMW styling, I have no qualms with their GT machine, this vehicle is just breathtaking.

Wangan Reality: Daikoku

Possibly the most famous parking lot in the world, Daikoku is set off the Wangan and is the staple meeting point before and after high speed antics. This parking lot also host almost every make gathering you can imagine. This post is from a fairly typical night, the cars are of course, of absurd quality. Noteworthy appearances are from the Top Secret R34 GT-R, The Matchless Crowd Racing Z33, and an incredible old school R31 skyline with an R34 RB26DETT conversion rolling on old school Advan Super Advan Racing three spokes. The previously featured grey R34 also made an appearance. Equally awesome are the appearances from the exotic automotive world, with Ferrari and Lamborghini making an appearance with the best of Japan.

Zimax FD3S: Into Oblivion

Friday brings an end to the individual Wangan features, and to finish properly I conclude with this Zimax constructed FD3S RX-7. This car is perhaps the most "classic" image of personal Japanese race vehicles. The exterior is extensively and well modified. Aerodynamic improvement is the only rule; leaving showmanship and taste in the background. The fact that they managed to improve a beautifully car in both form and function at all is an accomplishment. RE-Amemiya sources the bumper, wide body, canards, splitters, hood, diffuser, vortex generators, and wing. When you do something well you may as well entirely dominate at it, and RE-Amemiya is no stranger to the finest RX-7s in the world. The car is balanced on Volk CE28Ns, of course covering Brembo 6 pot fronts and 4 pot rears. Additionally, the light weight of this car allows for a much more aggressive tire compound to be used, and this car takes that advantage with Advan AD08 semi-dry slicks. The ability to shed speed with this tire setup plus the same Brembos used impresivly on cars almost twice as heavy makes "track worthy" an understatement. Inside, the car is stiffened with a roll cage and lightened with a stripped rear hatch and the jaw dropping carbon kevlar Bride Zeta III seats. These weight in at around 6 lbs a seat, a pretty absurd comparison to factory leather recliners. Motivating the spinning triangle Mazda calls an engine is again a T88 from Trust, while the entire motor is race ported and capable of applying an unruly power number around the 800s. Somewhere close to oblivion this car met a top speed of 350 kph, or a deafening tunnel blast to 218 mph.